Elon guard to have season-ending surgery

Adam Smith Times-News @adam_smithTN

Thursday

Dec 6, 2018 at 10:37 PM

Swoope will apply for medical redshirt

ELON — Hampered by pain across the course of a year’s time, and with the situation around the Elon men’s basketball team marked by uncertainty since the preseason, there’s resolution in Dainan Swoope’s chronic ankle injury dilemma.

The senior, a hard-nosed point guard who didn’t miss a game during any of the previous three seasons, will have season-ending surgery on his left ankle and apply for a medical redshirt.

Elon coach Matt Matheny said Swoope, having played in five games this season, is well within the threshold for receiving a medical redshirt exemption and thus returning next season for a fifth year.

“He’s eligible for a redshirt and that will be our plan, for sure,” Matheny said. “He hasn’t played the maximum number of games; he’s nowhere close to it. So that will be our intention.”

Matheny said Elon hopes to have the surgery performed before Christmas. From there, four to six months is the expected recovery period, which would put Swoope on a track to be back to full capacity by the summer.

The Phoenix (3-6) plays host to backyard rival UNC Greensboro (7-2) on Friday night, marking the one-year anniversary of the injury for Swoope. He hasn’t been in uniform during the last two weeks as sophomore Nathan Priddy has taken on Elon’s starting point guard duties.

Swoope played in 101 straight games and made 58 starts until Elon’s Nov. 24 loss, the final of three games in three days on the West Coast at Pacific’s Thanksgiving tournament.

He suffered the injury last Dec. 7, early in the second half of a lopsided loss to UNCG at Greensboro Coliseum. Swoope entered that night scoring more than 17 points per game. His average had dipped to 12 points per game by the end of last season, as he grinded out Elon’s final 22 games, furthering his tough-guy persona.

“Dainan has been struggling for quite a while now with soreness in his ankle that we hoped would get better with rest and treatments, and over time it just didn’t get to where he could play at 100 percent,” Matheny said. “He is a competitive warrior. He and I sat down at the beginning of the season and made the decision that we’re going to go for this thing and try to gut it out and play through pain, and enjoy his senior year now with his classmates as well as his team.

“It became apparent to us over time, but specifically in the tournament in California, that he just couldn’t play at 100 percent. And after some time to reflect on that and some more rest upon our return, we just decided that he was not going to end up being 100 percent, and the best thing to do was to have surgery.”

Last season, Elon called Swoope’s injury a sprained ankle. It has become clear that there’s more damage involved here than a sprain, though Matheny hasn’t clarified the extent publicly.

Swoope’s status had been an ongoing and increasing concern during the offseason. Then he missed a considerable portion of Elon’s preseason work, which made for an ominous sign in October.

He ranks eighth in program history with 193 successful 3-pointers. His 1,090 career points check in 34th all-time at Elon. He reached the 1,000-point plateau in February of last season as the 12th junior in program history to deliver that achievement.

The Phoenix scheduled its Dec. 22 matchup at Missouri-Kansas City this season to serve as a homecoming event for Swoope, who’s from Overland Park, Kan.

“What a disappointment that he won’t get to play in that game,” Matheny said. “He’s doing what we think is best and he’s very disappointed it’s come to this. But just like all other situations he has attacked here, he’s going to do it with a warrior-like mentality.”

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Tip-off

Who: UNC Greensboro (7-2) at Elon (3-6)

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: Schar Center, Elon

Series: Elon leads 26-14. Elon had won 12 straight meetings with UNCG until the Spartans’ 75-44 blowout victory last December at Greensboro Coliseum.

Tip-in: Through nine games, UNCG is off to its best start to a season in program history

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